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Minister for Women and Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti got a grassroots look at how literacy programmes are being rolled out in small country schools when she visited Leigh, Pakiri, Tomarata and Snells Beach on September 6.
The visits were part of a two-day tour of the Mahurangi and Hibiscus Coast regions, where she also met women building and electrical apprentices.
While at Leigh, principal Kerrin Jamieson demonstrated a structured literacy lesson using storybooks that enable students to practice their phonic skills through reading.
As a former teacher, Tinetti said she was impressed by the students’ engagement with both the reading and the story.
She said that while the whole language approach was working for about 70 per cent of students, the remaining 30 per cent were not getting the education they needed. She said the delivery of literacy education also varied from school to school.
“That’s why it’s good for me to see first-hand how the structured literacy programme is working,” she said.
A 2020 UNICEF report found that only 64 per cent of 15 year olds in NZ had more than a basic proficiency in reading and maths, meaning more than one-third struggled to read and write.
